Treasury staff has looked into the
matter and discussed the allegations with Ms. Square. Ms. Square denies making any such offensive
comments. No further action is expected at this point.

First, the fact that she denied everything isn't surprising. I suspect that if anyone asked her about it, Square would deny knowledge of the $1,000 that's reportedly missing from the city treasurer's office.

Second, I have to admit that I am even more troubled by this
response from the Michigan Department of Treasury than I am by Square comments.

Kwame Kilpatrick
Photo by Frank Nemecek

Kwame Kilpatrick
repeatedly denied any wrongdoing on his part. He denied it to the press. He
denied to it to City Council and community groups. He even denied it under oath in
depositions and at trial.

I mention this because Cathy Square is a close, longtime
associate of Kwame Kilpatrick. She served as chief operating officer under him.
She ran much of his operations.

It should not be surprising, therefore, that a close,
longtime associate of Kwame Kilpatrick denied any wrongdoing when asked about
it. What should be surprising, though, is that no one from Treasury spoke other
city hall employees, offered them anonymity, and then asked them if they had
ever heard Cathy Square
say such things.

Instead, according the above statement and my conversations
with current city hall employees, the investigation ended once Square denied
everything.

This is important because if any current or former employees were to file a harassment lawsuit, they would have the right under
Michigan Court Rules to subpoena every single city hall employee who interacted
with Square on a regular basis. Those employees would then be legally required
to answer questions under oath about what they saw and heard.

State Treasurer Kevin Clinton
Press Photo

This means that there is a realistic possibility that, if
such a lawsuit were to ever happen, we could see dozens of current and former
employees of the City of Hamtramck
testify under oath that Cathy
Square made a series of racially, ethnically, and
sexually inappropriate comments in the workplace. This could then be further
confirmed by the plaintiff requiring the City of
Hamtramck to
produce certain emails and other records in such a hypothetical lawsuit.

Once that were to hypothetically happen, Governor Rick Snyder as well as State Treasurer Kevin Clinton, and other officials
within the Michigan Department of Treasury would be placed in the position of
having to explain why they chose to end an investigation simply because a
close, longtime associate of Kwame Kilpatrick denied any wrongdoing.

And that is a position I cannot imagine any public official
wanting to be in.